


A Journey without an End

by matan4il



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Trailer, M/M, MCU AU, Marvel References, mechanic and superhero in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 10:23:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18754522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matan4il/pseuds/matan4il
Summary: "When I drift off, I'll dream of you. It's always been you." Robert taps to stop the recording. He hopes Aaron will believe him and holds on to that hope with as much desperation as a dying man can muster.IDK, I kinda lost my faith in my writing, but this happened anyway. TheRobron/Marvel Avengers Endgame AUno one wanted or needed. Unbeta’d, if you wanna point out mistakes to me, please do. Unlike the initial version I posted on Tumblr, I did have a chance to go over this once and make a few small changes, but still, know the risk if you advance. No spoilers warning as this was born from a scene featured in the Endgame trailer, which came out a gazillion years ago. In conclusion, Marvel did us all dirty and this is all I have left to cling to.





	A Journey without an End

"When I drift off, I'll dream of you. It's always been you." Robert taps to stop the recording. He hopes Aaron will believe him and holds on to that hope with as much desperation as a dying man can muster.

They have lied, have been lying, all of them. They might not have been the ones who decided to claim the title 'superheroes', but they played along with it all the same. What a lie - what a deep, profound falseness - it was of them to claim that mantle when he has seen even immortals dying in this fight. Invincibility, that was what they were lying about. Robert could see that, now that he was drifting off in space, electricity running lower with every passing moment, and it was becoming harder to tell whether the hum that was becoming ever more quiet was from the life sustaining machinery around him or his own mind, gradually shutting down. It could be a relief, the growing quiet. After all, his whole life the noise in his mind drove him forward like he was some mad man, trying to conquer everything in sight and more: the industry in which he was so successful; the beautiful people he had run into and enjoyed sampling; the constant fight to prove his worth in the circles of those the masses had dubbed superheroes. He _had_ to keep moving forward, to devour everything, lest the noise should get to him and drive him certifiably crazy, but it was all rather exhausting. He can admit that now, when the hum is close to inaudible. It could be a relief, it already is to a great degree. But... Aaron.

The blue drowning the world around him reminds Robert of Aaron's eyes and for a second he wishes he could be cocky again, leave the man that he had fallen for a different message altogether. "I'll come back to you," he would have said, "they may tell you I'm dead, but don't believe it. I _am_ going to come back to you. I will always find you." He wishes he could be that arrogant again, if only to see Aaron's grumpy eyeroll at that and feel the mechanic's unwavering love running just underneath it. That would have been Robert's preference, but Aaron has knocked the ability to lie right out of him. Those steady blue eyes saw effortlessly right through him from the first moment they had met and left him no choice but to love Aaron right away.

And now he was failing the man he loved. That knowledge hurt more than he thought possible. Maybe more than the awareness that he was also letting down all of humanity with this failure. But that's no great surprise. After all, if not a single human being proved worthy of life, Robert would still give his all to save the whole world, as long as it had Aaron in it. He doesn't know whether he will dream, or for how long, but that's what he's holding onto now. That if he does dream before his mind is gone, maybe even for one second only, they'll be reunited. He’ll kiss Aaron. It will be a second in time, but in his dying mind, it will last forever. It won't be real, but he won't know that anymore.

* * *

When Robert opens his eyes next, everything is bright, like there is too much light in his surroundings for him to be able to pick up on any specific thing, not a single thing, other than... Aaron. Of course he's here. Robert had no doubts he would be, because when it came to his dreams, they were a constant in the fabric of the universe since the first time the two of them had kissed. He looks up into the blue, for an instant wondering why that still feels like up if the dream world is spinning around him. The lines on Aaron's face settle everything down a bit, but they convey worry, Robert sees that too clearly. He thought he wouldn't remember his failed mission when he'd be dreaming, or that his subconscious would fool him into believing he had succeeded and that was how they came to be together again. Instead, the guilt and shame are gnawing at him, an undeniable turmoil in the pit of his stomach, the same constant companions which had escorted him for the majority of his life. Only Aaron ever gave him temporary respite from them and now he had let his love down, too. "I'm sorry," he says before he has a chance to stop himself from further ruining the dream, "I'm so sorry I wasn't the man you needed me to be."

The lines on Aaron's face somehow become deeper and express even more concern. "What are you talking about, Robert?"

"I failed my mission. I died." It's easier for Robert to admit his shortcomings in the dream, but then everything has always been easier when he had his lover there, grounding him.

Aaron snorts and suddenly looks less burdened. "I'd say, don't be daft, but it's too late for that," he smiles. "You’re not dead, Robert. You were on the verge of it, but I managed to lock in on your transmission beam." He stops as if everything is cleared up, but after a moment, maybe seeing some confusion in reaction to what he just said, he adds, "That’s the perk to being a senior mechanic for Stark Industries, yeah? I know all the equipment, everything that it can do, and they can't possibly stop me from borrowing a spacecraft to bring you back. We’re back on Earth, ya idiot. I found you," Aaron says and then he brings his face closer and his voice drops in its sincerity to nothing more than a rasp. "I will always find you." When Aaron kisses him, if it's not real, Robert doesn't know that anymore.


End file.
